


Pickings

by KillerKueen



Series: Rumbelle Showdown 2017 [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Rumbelle Showdown 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 10:49:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10436031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KillerKueen/pseuds/KillerKueen
Summary: Bae wants to go to a blueberry farm, of all things. How can Gold say no?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2017 Rumbelle Showdown under the name Chalkdust
> 
> Round 1 prompts were: Blueberries, Floof family, Defense mechanism

 

Honestly, he didn’t know why he put up such a pretense anymore. As if his answer was ever going to be anything other than “yes, let me grab the car keys” when his son asked for anything, let alone if they could go to a blueberry picking event, of all things.

He had wanted to say no, if only because he wasn’t sure his ankle could take the uneven ground and he was fairly sure that Bae didn’t even like blueberries. But the poor boy had turned those big, pleading eyes on him and honestly, it wasn’t like he asked for much anyway.

So here he was on a Saturday afternoon, at a farm outside the city limits of Portland. Bae had long since disappeared somewhere between the bushes. Probably for the best, that.

Gold had opted to stay on the fringes of the whole affair. He didn’t feel up to having to weave in and out of the patrons to the farm, not to mention the act of plucking berries from their bushes and putting them into a bucket seemed a little too much for him to handle with the sun high in the sky and him dressed in a three piece suit.

At least there was shade on a small hill that was lined with tall trees. He could overlook the whole event and be nice and cool while doing it.

Gold walked up behind a woman who seemed to have had the same idea. She had one hand over her brow, shielding her eyes while the other held a pail identical to the one Bae had been given. Her brown hair was pulled into a ponytail, baring her sun kissed shoulders. Her sundress had a pattern of seashells and seahorses, and Gold was charmed by it despite himself.

There was, however, an odd dark spot on her back that broke up the pattern, about as large as a quarter. Gold grimaced when he realized it was a spider that was steadily crawling across her shoulder blade. Well, that wouldn’t do.

Without a thought, Gold reached out and brushed at the pest.

Maybe his fingers lingered too long on the exposed skin of her shoulders, or maybe he pushed too hard. Regardless, next he knew, the woman yelped and was swinging her arm in an arch and all he saw was the metal pail as it collided with his face.

His nose, to be exact.

The taste of warm copper and salt flooded his mouth as his head reared back. It was only through some sort of miracle that he had managed to stay upright at all—that or his current white-knuckled grip on his cane, which he had dug into the ground.

Biting back every scathing swear that he knew, Gold leaned forward and pressed his handkerchief to his nose. He hoped he hadn’t gotten any blood on his suit.

“Mr. Gold?”

He was somehow not surprised that his assailant recognized him. What was a surprise him was that when his opened his eyes, still watery from the shock of pain, there standing in front of him was the one and only Belle French.

The beautiful, brilliant, and apparently hair-triggered Belle French.

“Mr. Gold,” she gasped, “Oh god _I’m so sorry_. Oh my _god_ , it was just a reflex, I didn’t—oh, I’m _so_ sorry.”

Between his cane and his nose, Gold had his hands full and so couldn’t raise one to quell her apologies, which were just becoming more and more frantic the longer he stayed silent.

“I can’t believe—oh, I’m _so stupid_. I’m so sorry, Mr. Gold,” she said miserably. By now she seemed to realize how precarious his balance was, so she ducked under the arm holding his cane, bracing her shoulder underneath him while her arm curled across his back.

“Please, Miss French,” he finally managed, albeit a little thickly, what between the blood and her body suddenly being pressed up against him (and there wasn’t that much blood). “I heard what you did to Mr. Knottingham last month. I do believe I got off lucky.”

And lucky he was; he had never been so close to her before; he had never known she had a splash of freckles across her nose, had no idea her eyes could be so bright.

“That’s different,” she said concern still in her eyes, but he could see a small smile of relief tugging at the corners of her mouth. “He deserved it. If I had known it was you,” she started, but then trailed off.

Her fingers gently pulled his handkerchief from his face so she could check the bleeding. Honestly, it wasn’t so bad, especially now that the initial shock of pain had left.

“I, uhm, don’t just go around groping women on farms,” he said, feeling like he should defend himself.

Belle blushed, and he decided that was a truly fetching shade of red, especially from so close.

“You were touching my shoulder. That’s hardly groping.”

“All the same. I should have asked first.”

“Well, you have my attention now, Mr. Gold,” she said, mistaking his intentions.

“I was merely trying to brush a spider off you,”

“Now I feel even worse!” Belle exclaimed, but at least she was laughing now. “I mean, you got it, right?” She tried twisting to look behind her.

Gold laughed, ignoring the pain he felt in his cheeks when he smiled. “I daresay if I didn’t, you scared it off yourself.”

She blushed a deeper shade of red.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for his nose to stop bleeding. After Belle assessed the damage and decided that nothing was broken (or at least not more crooked than usual), Gold folded his handkerchief and she stepped away.

He immediately missed her. She didn’t go far though, and still held his arm, which went even further into soothing his bruised pride.

“What brings you up to Mountain Creek Farm?” Belle asked. “I hadn’t pegged you as the sort to come to these things.”

“I’m not,” Gold admitted. “This is all Bae’s doing, I promise.”

Belle perked up at the mention of Bae. That was one of his favorite things about the librarian if he were honest – she adored his son and didn’t bother hiding it.

“So he ran off the moment he stepped out of the car, then?” she asked,smiling knowingly. “Emma did the same.”

“Miss Swan joined you?” Gold raised an eyebrow.

“She was supposed to come with her mother, but then Neal got sick and Mary Margaret didn’t want to leave him, what with him still being so young still, so she called in a favor.”

Gold chuckled. “And of course Bae would want to tag along.”

That was one mystery solved. Gold might have been annoyed that Bae hadn’t just asked to drive up with Emma instead of dragging Gold along, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to be upset by how things had turned out, pail to the face and all.

“They’re pretty good friends, aren’t they, Emma and Bae?” Belle asked.

“They are,” he said. “I can’t help but wonder what sort of mischief they’re getting into, though.”

“Well, I’m sure it’s mischief they’d rather do on their own. If Emma needs me she knows where I am.”

Gold nodded. Her hand was resting on his forearm, almost unconsciously, and he was sure he was going to say something foolish if she kept staring at him with her smile and her eyes so blue.

“I was, uhm,” Belle said, hesitating, before saying in a rush, “I was going to take Emma to ice cream after, maybe find a place to grab a burger. Would you and Bae like to join us?”

It was a good thing her hand was still weighing him down, because otherwise Gold was sure he would have floated away. Nothing would make him happier than him and his son joining her.

“It’s the least I can do for nearly breaking your nose,” she laughed a little nervously.

And just like that, Gold crashed down into reality. Of course Belle wouldn’t feel as romantically inclined as him. Perhaps she was even worried about him retaliating, though the thought of anyone doing anything of the sort to Belle was unthinkable. Still, even he wasn’t fool enough to turn down the opportunity.

“We would love to,” he said. “And if Bae doesn’t, then he can wait in the car.”

“You would do no such thing,” she laughed, squeezing his arm.

Her laugh was a wonderful sound, and it made him think that he could be content enough with her friendship.

It seemed he would have to be.


End file.
